HUNDREDS of people who packed a Margaret River shark forum last night were told there are better alternatives to the drum lines used to catch and kill sharks in WA.

The community debate was held to bring surfers, divers, fishermen, business people, parents and politicians together to discuss both sides of the shark cull debate that has divided the state.

Jess, the partner of shark attack victim Kyle Burden, who was taken at Bunker Bay in the South-West, was at the forum and she thanked organisers for a "really informative" night and said it "meant a lot".

The mood was peaceful and most came to learn more about sharks, though police were in attendance at the Margaret River Cultural Centre for the 7pm start.

By 9.30pm, organisers had to call an end to the event as dozens of questions flooded in from the crowd, and they deemed the debate a "huge success".

An audience member speaks at the shark forum in Margaret River. Picture: Elements Margaret RiverSource:Supplied

Among the crowd was WA surfing champion Claire Bevilacqua, who said it was time for a "new and open minded way of dealing" with sharks, and South-West veteran professional fisherman Keith Halnan.

One man said: "I'm 75 years old and I swim six days a week and I want everyone to know I'll feel a lot less safe when I go in the water with a curtain of dead meat and dead fish from the drum lines less than 1km away."

Gracetown local Rob Alder, who was at the scene when surfer Nick Edwards was attacked and killed in Cowaramup Bay several years ago, choked back tears when he addressed the audience with an emotional appeal.

"I attended Nick Edwards on the rocks at South Point in Gracetown and I was moved by the very rawness of the event, but it's the risk I choose to take as a surfer when I go in the water, and the Government can't legislate that away," he said.

"They simply can't remove that risk. I believe the shark that took Boydy (Chris Boyd recently) went straight past another surfer, so there is such randomness in the event.

"My personal belief is that, if sharks liked the taste of human beings, they'd be schooling at every swimming beach in Australia.

Margaret River surfer Lane Alver, a veteran of 39 years in the waves and a friend of WA's most recent shark attack victim Chris Boyd, said: "I don't know if drum lines are the right thing but at least something's being done. My two sons surf and I don't want one of them to be the next victim."

South-West MP Barry House could not attend but in a message he said: "It was not an option for the Government to do nothing in light of the recent spate of seven fatal shark attacks in three years - several of them right here in the Margaret River area.

"The addition of drum lines… is a responsible and as pragmatic approach as possible given that it is not an exact science. It is certainly not a cull and shouldn't be portrayed as such."

Guest speaker Professor Jessica Meeuwig, a marine scientist of 22 years and director of the University of WA's Centre for Marine Futures, spoke of alternatives to WA's drum line program that could boost swimmer safety without destroying sharks.

She told the crowd an eight-year program in Brazil from 2004-2011 - where sharks were caught on wildlife-friendly drum lines, tagged, towed out to sea and released - had a 97 per cent success rate of reducing shark incidents.

Prof Meeuwig also said great white sharks were unlikely to be in a population boom, despite an increase in sightings.

Sea Shepherd managing director Jeff Hansen asked the WA Government to explain why drum lines were being removed for the Rottnest Island swim if they did not attract sharks.

He said it was time to "end the divide" and for "all sides to work together" in the hugely inflammatory shark cull debate.

"I believe we can work together and communicate more. We do care more about people but we also want to look after the planet for our kids and their kids," he said.

"If we don't have biodiversity on this planet, we as a species are in big trouble."

He said sharks were "doctors of the sea" and needed for healthy oceans.

A drop in Queensland shark attacks was from the end of whaling, not the introduction of shark nets and drum lines, he said.

The crowd at the shark forum in Margaret River. Picture: Elements Margaret RiverSource:Supplied

A professional fisherman told the crowd there had been a "huge increase in tiger sharks" off the South-West, while a local surfer, while local surfer Mark Heussenstamm said salmon had become scarce in the South-West and he posed the question that sharks could be underfed as a result.

Diver of more than 30 years Sepp Hock told the crowd: "If you're going to put a drum line out there, it will attract sharks, and more sharks, and different sharks. When they get rid of the carcass, that becomes a feeding opportunity for still more sharks."

A former worker on Heron Island in Queensland, he said sharks learned to follow boats and learned boats could mean a "free feed".

Later, there were groans from the crowd when people were told the Federal Government had given the WA Government an exemption to kill protected great white sharks.

Another local said: "It's very sad, it's infuriating, and I hope we get through it. What we need is science."

As the event concluded, audience members said they wanted the Government to start listening; they called for a poll of local surfers; they wanted programs to educate children at school about sharks; and suggested more eco-tourism ventures showing the beauty of sharks.

One audience member said: "A lot of kids aren't going in the water because of everything they're hearing about sharks."

Despite the large turnout, event organiser and moderator Steve Tribbeck said he was disappointed Fisheries Minister Ken Baston, Vasse MP Troy Buswell, other state and federal MPs and local councillors had not accepted his invitation to attend.

"It's totally disappointing. Where are our representatives? Where are the people who are the bridge between us and the legislation?" he said.

Mr Tribbeck said the event was aimed at making the shark debate less divisive.

"The forum is to try to come to more of a consensus or at least realise we are all on the same page as far as wanting safer oceans, and then look at creating them in the best possible way," he said.

"They don't breed like bunnies. They are slow growing, long lived, reproduce late, and have small numbers of offspring.

"It might be water temperatures are driving them in, or they're acclimating to boats where they think they can get a good feed, or we observe more of them because there are more of us in the water. But this doesn't mean their populations are increasing and that we can be comfortable removing sharks from the ecosystem."

She said sharks were essential to healthy eco-systems because "top predators keep the 'middle guys' in line".

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